What Are Consonants?

One of the key early reading skills is knowing the sounds that letters represent. In English, the twenty-six letters of the alphabet fall into two categories: vowels or consonants. Typically, kids learn some of the consonant letters first. That’s partly because many of the twenty-one consonant letters only have one sound, making them easier to learn. Consonant sounds are made by closing or narrowing parts of the mouth, such as the tongue, teeth, or lips. Think of consonants as the “blocked” sounds in words—like the sound of the letter m when you press your lips together.

It’s often easier for a child to identify a consonant sound when they hear it, because they tend to be clearer and more distinct in spoken language. Phonics teaches new readers to connect these written letters to their sounds.

Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants 

Consonants can be either voiced or unvoiced, depending on whether the vocal cords vibrate when producing the sound. For instance, the /b/ sound in bat is voiced while the /p/ sound in pat is unvoiced. By placing your hand on your throat and saying both words, you can feel the difference. Children don’t need to know whether sounds are voiced or unvoiced, but they should hear the difference between them. And knowing how these sounds work together with each other and with vowels is an essential part of learning to read.

Consonant Sounds

Most consonants make one sound, such as b making the /b/ sound. Six of these letters make multiple sounds:

What Are Vowels?

The remaining letters of the alphabet are the five primary vowels, a, e, i, o, and u. Vowels are the sounds you make when you speak without closing your mouth or touching your tongue to your teeth or the roof of your mouth. Think of vowels as the “open” sounds in words. They also make multiple sounds, including short and long sounds.

Both vowels and consonants are parts of syllables. Syllables are units of sound that include a vowel sound, and often start and/or end with consonants. Together, consonants and vowels form syllables and words.

Consonants that Affect a Vowel’s Sound

It’s important to know that some consonants affect the sound of vowels, including n, l, and r.

R-controlled vowels occur when a vowel is followed by the letter r, which changes the way the vowel is pronounced. The r modifies the vowel sound, creating a unique sound. The sound of r-controlled vowels is different from standard long or short vowel sounds.

Common r-controlled vowel patterns include:

• ar: car, star
• or: fork, born
• ir: bird, shirt
• er: her, term
• ur: fur, burn

A similar effect happens to vowels that are followed by /l/. For example, in words like ball and cold, the vowel sound may take on a slightly different quality because they appear before /l/.

Common words with l-affected vowels include:

• all, ball, call, mall
• cold, gold, fold
• milk, silk

When /n/ follows a vowel, it often causes the vowel to be nasalized. That means a small amount of air comes out of the nose as the vowel is said. For example, in man and sand, the vowel sound is nasalized because the vowel comes before n.

Consonant Blends

Sometimes two or three consonants come together in a word without any vowels between them. These are called consonant blends. In blends, each letter keeps its individual sound, and the blend is pronounced as a sequence of these sounds. Practicing reading and writing these blends helps children build their fluency and understanding of letter sounds. Kids often learn these blends in first grade.

Common blends include:

• bl: black, blue, bliss
• br: bread, break, bright
• cl: clay, clean, clip
• cr: crisp, cry, creak
• dr: drum, drip, dream
• fl: fly, flip, flea
• fr: frog, friend, free
• gl: green, grass, grew
• pl: please, play, plate
• pr: prize, present, print
• sl: slow, slip, sleep
• sm: smile, smoke, smart
• sn: snow, snake, sneeze
• sp: spin, span, spot
• st: star, stop, stick
• sw: swim, sweep, swift
• str: street, strong, straight
• spl: split, splash, splice
• scr: scream, scrape, screen

Consonant Digraphs                  

In consonant blends, each letter retains its sound. In consonant digraphs, two letters come together to represent a new, single sound.

Common digraphs include: 

• ch: chin, chick, rich
• sh: shut, shin, push
• th: thick, thin, with
• ph: phone, photo, graph
• wh: white, which, why
• ng: ring, ding, sing

Learning these digraphs helps kids build strong reading skills because they understand how different letter combinations produce certain sounds. Children will often learn digraphs after learning blends.

Consonant Trigraphs                                      

A trigraph is a group of three letters that work together to represent a new, single sound. They are like digraphs but are made up of three letters instead of two.

Common trigraphs include:

• tch: watch, match, pitch
• sch: school, schedule, scholar
• str: street, straight, stream
• nth: month, ninth, tenth

It’s helpful to learn about trigraphs after kids have an understanding of digraphs.

Words with Silent Letters                    

Most consonants make sounds in words, but some words have silent consonants. Some common words with silent letters include words with:

• wr: wring, write, wrong (the w is silent)
• kn: knee, knight, knot (the k is silent)
• b: comb, thumb, debt (the b is silent)
• dg: bridge, badge, edge (the d is silent)

Helping kids recognize these patterns helps them know when not to pronounce a sound in a word.

Tips and Tricks for Reading and Spelling

Most consonants make one primary sound. Learning about the primary sounds consonants make is the best place for kids to start learning about consonants. After gaining this understanding, kids can start to learn about common spelling patterns involving consonants (blends, digraphs, trigraphs, etc.).

To help kids learn about consonant spelling patterns, you can use:

• Matching Games: Create cards with words using the different consonant patterns. Include two words that have the same consonant patterns on different cards. Have kids match the words that use the same pattern.
• Letter Tiles: Use letter tiles or magnetic letters to build words with particular consonant patterns.
• Read Aloud Books: Highlight specific consonant patterns in the books you read aloud. Read them aloud and point out the patterns as you go.

Giving kids lots of experience reading and writing with consonants helps expose them to a variety of standard letter-sound combinations and consonant spelling patterns. Know that your child’s understanding of consonants and the sounds they make will evolve over time. They can start just with the primary sounds, and then expand their understanding from there.

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